institutions, what we call corporations. if we don't want this set of outcomes we call the consequences of capitalism than we have to fundamentally alter the organization of production. if we want the production of goods and services, the core economic base of our lives to serve all of us that we have to be in charge of them, and it cannot be a subset that allocates that position to itself. a radical transformation, which was beginning to be done and talk about in jackson mississippi, part of a broadening her recognition that that fundamental revolution that reorganizes production is where we have to go to achieve where the work putsches to cut pushes us. >> anyone else? >> i am thoroughly convinced that if 40 percent of america's

children lived in poverty and one out of three young people were on parole, in prison, or probation that would be a different historical moment. a 40 percent of white children lived in poverty and one out of three white young brothers were on parole, on probation, or in prison we would have a different moment which means that we are going to have to do something about the relation to the kneele liberal capitalist regime that is so tied to lies and crime. the issue how of black and brown is not just an issue of being morally sensitive. it is an anti systemic issue that goes right back to what is being talked about which is precisely the reason why young people are disproportionately targeted because the only time we have had the possibility was in the 1960's. it came at it so viciously. that is why we still have a

political prisoner. they came at us viciously and are ready to come back again. the difference will be this time it will be black faces that will help lead the vicious attack. they were not in positions of power. now you have black elites at the top of the empire who can facilitate the vicious attacks. on the top-10 list and being a terrorist with a black president in the white house. a black freedom fighter. we don't want to say a word about it. shame on us and terms of the legacy just 30 or 40 years ago. these kind of settings where they told the truth. look what they had to go through a. we so easily turn our backs and say low and behold, their service and sacrifice can be marginalized in the same way as thomas paine.

appeal to colored citizens of the world. he did what? wrote his text and died in that hotel room and 11 months after. he went with a smile. he told the truth and expose to lines and bore witness. >> one minute. >> i would say that the reason we are in such an incendiary moment has the political and economic and cultural oppression of poor people of color is now being visited on the sons and daughters of the white middle class. that is basically the engine of the occupy movement. these are intellectuals. always cited these intellectuals as vital for revolution arguing. so suddenly you have the sons and daughters who indoor police

oppression, who can't keep a job or at least a job where they can sustain themselves, who are enduring marginalized people of color have endured for decades. at that moment the state is in serious, serious trouble because an alliance between and alienated white essentially middle-class or formerly middle-class, those people of color, especially low wage working poor, one that i think once galvanized can begin to create. that is why the fight for the minimum wage is absolutely crucial. a form of political control, put there on purpose. ask any african american. sharecroppers were kept in slavery long after slavery was officially abolished. what we have done to college students in this country is absolutely criminal. my son is in france. if he told french college

students there would have to pay $50,000 a year to go to college that would shut that damn country down which is precisely what he should be doing here. all right. >> everybody -- [applause] >> i will close by saying something is coming. it is always the ruling elite that determine the configurations of rebellion. unable to respond rationally to the mortgage foreclosure crisis, joy of crisis, climate change. they have no internal limits. there will exploit until exhaustion or collapse and there will be blow back. [applause] >> i wanted just think our participants. make revolution. thank you. i just want to thank our friends

. [inaudible conversations] >> c-span2 book tv this weekend. friday night at 8:00 eastern with books on marriage equality, the obama's versus the clintons, and the autobiography of former mayor of washington. saturday at 10:00 p.m. eastern, bob woodward interviews former counsel for president nixon on the watergate scandal. sunday afternoon at 5:00 president ceo of the new york public library sheds light on the library's past, present, and future. book tv, television for serious readers. >> and now on book tv senator jim demint spoke about his book "falling in love with america again" at the eagle forum collegians summit in washington d.c. this is about half an hour.

>> i think you will allow me to take the seventh inning stretch by standing up and saying the pledge of allegiance. [inaudible conversations] >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to this country for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> thank you. now senator jim demint who has written a book called "falling in love with america again". he served in the house from 99 to 2010 was the senator from south carolina until he joined the heritage foundation in 2013. jim demint has a long record of

public service, fighting for freedom and conservative principles and continues to advocate for limited government, individual liberty, strong national defense command traditional american values. also the author of the book saving freedom. in the senate he was a leader in the fight against obamacare, the misguided 2007 amnesty bill and against any interested united nations treaty. zero. well, i should have made the pledge of allegiance cut twice as long. have you as a captive audience. we have other people that have filed in to hear some of our next speakers. after senator jim demint we have senator santorum.

then we have. three speakers in the afternoon will be tremendously exciting. andrew mccarthy talking about a book he has written about building the case for obama's impeachment. and coulter who i assume needs no introduction. and then what i am most excited about, a story about calvin coolidge, one of my most favorite presidents. he took a red line to the entire budget and truly cut spending in a tremendous way. if you don't know your history it is worth rushing upon. that is what is coming up today on this fabulous program. now senator jim demint. come on up. [applause] all right. great. thank you for coming.

i guess i need to use the microphones. thank you for being here. this is an opportunity for us to hear from you and to share a little news, the things that we are doing. think it is important. i appreciate the group, a longevity in the movement. so many folks who claim to be on our side, and go. they tend to be tempted away to the wrong ideas. i sure appreciate her strong stand over so many years. thank you for being here. i just want to take a few moments to talk about this whole concept of being conservative. what does it mean? sometimes the political labels get confusing. probably all of you here consider yourself conservative in some way. sometimes we don't talk about what it is that we are trying to

conserve. and if you take the political levels of and think about what it is that we are talking about, what is the other side talking about, it really comes down to two basic ideas. when you confront a problem or a situation. there tends to be a gut instinct of some folks. if they're is a problem we want to tell people what to read you have probably run into them as hall monitors and in school. they want to have the rules. they want everyone to do the same thing. they're not comfortable unless everyone is being told what to do. i see that a lot in washington. you see a problem somewhere across the country. they want to make a law that forces everyone to do something. there is another get instinct that comes from me and a lot of people who share my same beliefs whenever you can when they're is

a problem let people work that out for themselves. let them come up with there own solution. let people in different parts of the country come up with different solutions so that we can compare what works and what does not and what works best. and i guess the misconception today is that if you standardize everything somehow that will make everything better, improve life for everyone when in fact it is very often the opposite. when you standardize everything you lose the opportunity to have 50 states competing to do things the best way. fifty states learning from the state's next to them how to do something better. in the business world we call that continuous quality improvement, comparing ourselves with past practices in other companies, always looking at the competitors and other people and what they are doing.

what happens is one person will do it better, another person will do it better, and you keep getting better and better. will we have seen happen in america when we began as a country that was very decentralized, some much of what is good about america was really bill from the ground up. it did not come from the government down. came from the people and the little platoons, families, church groups, small businesses, little shamus, volunteer organizations helping each other, building their communities. that is not only what works, that is what makes us the best and the greatest and most compassionate nation in history and is also what creates our love for each other. we are not patriots and lovers of america because of a big federal government. we love our country because of the people that are closest to us, our families, communities, the people that we know, the opportunities that we have to do

things for ourselves. it is not what other people do for us. it is a different philosophy than central planning and central management which goes back to where i started. the people sitting here in the capitol widen him, it is not about making you free. it is about controlling your life immobile leaving the no better than you do how to make decisions. and when you start looking at the different issues you can really see how this breaks out because for several decades in washington the people who wanted to control things have been succeeding in so many areas. the federal government now has so much control over areas of our lives such as education, certainly health care, managing our energy resources, our transportation system, our banking and mortgage system which means they control housing, of the finance in our country which drives a lot of our total economy.

and through regulations of almost every area of our lives the control is coming out of washington. under this idea that there -- they are helping us, there are a lot of good intentions, but there is an old saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. i can promise you, the road all around washington d.c., paved with that same material. people here claiming that they will help you by controlling your life. the difference in philosophy between conservatives and progressives is our ideas are based on those principles that we can see made this country strong in great, created the best life that has ever been created for humankind. it never was perfect. you can always find problems, but there has never been a nation like the united states of america. and we have done more not only to improve our own lives but

people's lives all over the country and the world. our ideas of free market and enterprise are doing more than lift people out of poverty than any government program of the world. you can look at the statistics around the world. our own index of economic freedom is keeping track of which countries are doing their right things to lift themselves up. and you can see what that does to improve the lives of people. and ironically and unfortunately so many countries around the world are copying the principles that made us prosper as well we are going the other way. but the key here is that we are not talking about two theories. and we are not arguing about things that we are not sure about what works and what doesn't. as a conservative you can go boldly out into the country and talk about this idea of limited government in a vibrant civil society of how far less taxes

and less regulations actually improved lives for everyone. and you don't have to argue a theory. now, particularly now as you look at the policies which have prevailed in washington for several decades because despite some republicans being in charge, basically they have all been spend more, borrow more, grow the government, give government more control over education, health care. it has been the problem with both parties. we not only have seen debt and dysfunction. these ideas have prevailed in cities and states around the country. you see massive failures, cities like detroit that have been controlled by liberal progressive ideas for over six decades. you can't blame that on a republican. there has not been a republican in detroit and a longtime. but this was america's premier

city long before your time pretty probably don't even know which, but this was the pride of america where our auto companies were the best in the world. people actually went to detroit to vacation just to see the place. and some of the wealthiest people in our country, wealthiest per-capita of any place in the world right there in detroit. now it is completely the opposite, completely devastated, run by gangs. there is not even a major supermarket in detroit. it is bankrupt. and so are the ideas of the left. if you look at other states controlled by those same ideas like illinois hopelessly headed toward bankruptcy with all of their union pensions and everything they have been doing for years, california running businesses off of high taxes and regulation, the policies of the left, progressives have failed. they are progressing away from

the principles that create prosperity and freedom. we are building the future based on those principles and by applying those principles of work. steve more who works with us now putting together a book about the comparison of the states. and it just shows time after time have the ideas that we believe in and making life better and people more prosperous. where there is less taxes or in some cases no state taxes. businesses flock. when you have toward reform, legal reform, you see doctors moving to practice in places like texas where they don't have to worry about trial lawyers as much as they do disease. they can practice their craft. the ec states that are going around the federal regulations on private land to develop energy like north dakota where

only a decade ago basically a waste land, no one would consider going. now people are driving all over the country to find a better way of life. he see it in northern pennsylvania and other places. but for years the left has kept us from developing the energy that would make america prosperous, help to solve our debt problem, our trade deficit, a lot of the issues that they complain about them make worse. but despite that the innovative spirit of americans, the independent spirit of a lot of states, america has become despite this president the largest producer of energy in the world. states that are expanding school choice are doing so much better than states that are following the federal regulation such as the new common core.

our ideas work. and it does not just work for rich people. if you look at school choice it is closing the income gap of the most at risk kids in our nation today. you can be proud of what you believe because it is what works the left is moving ahead away from the principles all under theories that this central planning and management can actually work. those policies have been on full display during the obama administration, and our economy despite spending trillions more than we ever have on economic stimulus, are still in a stagnant economy which puts people like you at eight -- in a terrible situation going through college, developing student loans and not even sure there will be opportunities on the other side. this is not something you have to stand for, it is not a permanent situation. these can turn around relatively quickly because all of the

things that made this country work are still at work. a very oppressive federal government, oppressive taxes, regulations. in those people appear who think they can control your life when they can't even run their own and they certainly can't run congress. i appreciate you. it is unusual for folks at a young age to begin to understand that actually freedom is your best path to prosperity and also your best path to security. the idea that government dependency will make use secure is a fool's errand. it is not true. you are most secure when you are most free. and we prove it every day here at heritage. i will set up. >> questions. >> let's have some questions. >> thank you. >> come on.

>> there we go. down in front. >> my name is terry, and i am from taxes. have a question about common core. what are some ways as a grass-roots activist you can push against common core and in light of their parents or other people's eyes about the dangers? >> this is one of those programs that on the cover sheet sounded wonderful. it was voluntary. after use of the rags and other basically tied up all the money it is another example of good intentions gone awry. jeb bush he did a great job as governor in florida with school choice, very innovative things which proved successful. the problem is once you see that happen you forgive the reason it

happened is because he went outside the federal regiment and did something different. now if you want to take what happened and start creating national standards basically what you do is conform every state to something instead of creating an environment where states are trying to improve and keep growing and making things better. so what we need to convince people of is this idea of federal standards which sounds wonderful and benign. ed actually keeps quality down and keep the federal bureaucrats controlling what happens at the state level. the best way for schools to operate is for teachers to have more control of their classroom, principals to have more control of their schools, local school boards along with parents to help to shape the curriculum there, and to create a best practice situation that has worked in so many industries where you can compare what you are doing with the others combined of the things that others are doing better, share

good information, and keep building a better and better system rather than creating a static one-size-fits-all federal system. it does not work. if it did -- you know, we spend more per capita than any other country in the world on education. everyplace and around the country like washington d.c. where we are spending over 20,000 per student per year you get the lowest quality because of the bureaucratic nightmare that is there. so i tell you -- and if we could get more teachers to break away from teachers' unions. that really hurts because the information that comes through teachers' unions about political issues is so skewed. they are a detriment to our whole education system. i appreciate you being willing to be a teacher, and i hope you can get in a system where you can be as good as you can be and not be in some kind of seniority tenure system controlled by

unions. >> a question back there. >> thank you for being with us, senator jim demint. >> your name. >> helleri rose in jackson taxes you are talking about immigration reform. i am wondering if you could expand a little bit on that. the you think the talks will be successful or do you think anything good will come out of those things ? >> this is a human tragedy, and you have to recognize that first. a lot of these are teenagers, but you have younger children. what we have to go back to, the president mentioned in his talk, the root causes, and he acted like it was funding, like the root cause is funding. he has a half a trillion dollars to deal with on domestic issues including border security. the root cause of this is all of this talk of amnesty. if you make your way to

america illegally, if you get here you are going to get amnesty, citizenship, and a better life. the human traffickers in central america for the last two years have been using obama's own words as they're marketing campaign. it has encouraged parents to do the unthinkable in many cases and pay these people money to put these kids on that death train as it is called in mexico hanging off the sides in many cases to go from central america to our borders knowing that our laws and the president's executive order, if you can get there they will turn you away. what we have done is created an invitation for people all over the world, particularly central america to make their way to our borders. in now with the president wants to do is first of all ask for this irresponsible amount of money that will change things so that he can make it a battle between he and congress. he is smart politically

because the media always buys into this. he said the solution is this giant amnesty that was proposed by some in the senate. what you see on the borders right now is just a small glimpse of what this massive amnesty would do to our country. think about it. he needs nearly $4 billion to deal with about 50 or 60,000 children. what will it cost to deal with 11 million once you grant amnesty and get into the processing of these people and bringing them into the american system? it will not work. and what it will do is make the situation on the border much, much worse. back before your time and when ronald reagan made very few mistakes but said one of the mistakes was believing congress if they gave amnesty to 3 million illegals who were here at the time that they would then fix the border and fix our immigration system.

all that it was encouraged millions and millions more to come here illegally and create hardships, not just for themselves and the families they left but hardships for americans, those who immigrated here illegally. we are a country of immigrants. we need to reform our immigration system to welcome those who want to come here and be a part of who we are. but to say that our immigration system is based on those who get here illegally is just wrong, unfair to those who follow the legal process. and what we need to tell the president is to stop talking about amnesty, stop misleading people, particularly in central america that if they send their children with these human traffickers that they will get a better way of life. they are abused. many horrible ways. we are encouraging it, and it has nothing to do with what congress did or